Preview: RAGE Hands-On Impressions

After a two hour session of RAGE, I have to say that it was a very solid experience. This preview of RAGE that I had was not of a half-finished game, or a demo that drops you in some of the highlighted moments of it. No, this started from the beginning of the game and ended after my two hours were up. So what was my experience like with this first-person shooter campaign that is set in the year 2029? Read on to find out.

RAGE takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that looks very similar to what has been seen in games such as Fallout and movies such as the Book of Eli. It’s barren, it’s dry, and everything looks like it was built with the remains of a world that was once flourishing. You’re thrown into this world that you’re unfamiliar with, and you’re forced to learn the ins and outs of it and its politics. The game does a great job of setting the atmosphere, and you feel as though you’re growing with this character who also doesn’t know what the heck is really going on.

As a first-person shooter, you take on enemies with your guns, grenades and your melee attack. You can upgrade your pistols and shotguns with various scopes and bullets, and these can be purchased, found or given to you by the people of the game — you know, typical RPG elements.

The enemies in this game are those who have thrown out all reason and norms of a civilized person. These enemies are savages, and you encounter them as you enter their camps. As you take on enemies, one thing that I noticed was that they are smart. They communicate with each other and dodge and weave from your attacks very effectively. It’s a little scary.

Your means of transportation include walking and running, of course, but you can also take vehicles to go from place to place as well. As you’re going from gated community to gated community, enemies and stationary guns will disrupt you during your travels. You need to hook your vehicles up with cash you find throughout the game and the bodies of killed enemies. The distances between areas is not very long, but being attacked and attacking back definitely makes, what is usually the boring portions of the game, something fun and enjoyable.

The biggest compliment I can give to this game is its pacing. There is constant action and constant progression in the story. The moment you feel comfortable about where you are is the moment when the game throws you into another whole new place. It’s refreshing and that sense of discovery is always there.

Playing RAGE was the quickest 2 hours of my life. I usually play games in 2 hour sittings, and this game had me wanting to play more than that. Also, for someone like me with a short attention span, RAGE had me focused, and that is a huge accomplishment.

Working on the DualShockers staff as both an editor and community manager since late 2009, François is absolutely no stranger to the videogame industry. He is a graduate from the City College of New York, and has his Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations and Advertising. His next step is to obtain his Master's degree at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. Before starting his career, François has been gaming since the age of 2 with Super Mario World, and he has never looked back since. Gaming may be his profession, but it has always been his passion.